ChessDreams Proposes 2010 State Class Championships
10.18.09 MECA presidential candidate Akagi Kayashima has proposed a State Class Championship tournament, including classes A-E and a women's championship, to be held in November of 2010. We bring you the details of the proposal and welcome your feedback.
State Class Championships 2010
The final important element to the new State Championship cycle is a State Class Championship event. With this event, every player in Maine, regardless of location, or rating, can meaningfully compete for a state championship title. For example, if you were a 1000-rated player living in Houlton or Ellsworth in past years, even if you drove the extended distance to South Portland, what were your real chances of winning the State Championship title? I hope none of you paid a $10 membership fee for that privilege, and if you did pay, MECA owes you your money back.
But before anyone clamors for their $10 back, please let me explain to you how MECA can earn your $10 in 2010. By holding a State Class Championship final event, combined with all of the state zonal events, then every player in the State of Maine has a practical shot at earning two state titles: For example, a player may first win their nearest zonal state title, like the "Class-D Western State Champion", and secondly, they could go on to win the state finals and become the "Maine State Class-D Champion".
ChessDreams would offer to be the sponsor and host of this exciting, free, State Class Championships event for 2010, with voter approval this December.
The following State (and Zonal) Class titles will be awarded by the Maine Chess Association following voter and Policy Board approval for this event:
1. Class-A State Champion
2. Class-B State Champion
3. Class-C State Champion
4. Class-D State Champion
5. Class-E State Champion
6. Women's State Champion
The title of "Maine State Champion" will be held in a separate event, hosted and funded by ChessDreams, although any other organization is welcome to bid on each of these events and will receive a fair shot at being the event host by review of the MECA Policy Board. Each of the four zonal championships will like-wise determine, their own Zonal Class title winners. These state championship events are not intended as scholastic events, as they have their own state scholastic championships, but the zonal and final class events are clearly open to any player, of any age in the State of Maine.
In summary, members of the Maine Chess Association have a great opportunity this December by voting for a bright & inspiring future for Maine chess next year. I, along with ChessDreams, will guarantee the implementation and financing of all SIX of these state championship events in 2010. These six, newly created, events would be in lieu of ChessDreams' L'Héritage Classique held this past July in Lewiston, and in addition to, all other previously held tournaments this past year, including Portland Chess Club's Maine Closed Championship, should PCC wish to continue their event in 2010.
Akagi
ChessDreams
October 16, 2009
Lewiston, Maine
Comments
This is for Brian Hirst, and anyone else who cares to read it. Akagi's proposed state championship class tournaments are not scholastic events. In your situation, as you build your middle school club, the idea would be to communicate with other school systems for "club" type matches/tournaments. This is where I think the VP of MECA should have a direct interest under the guidance of the MECA president and policy board. If that can be a fruitful focus of MECA, and a continuous one at that, which helps schools contact one another by maintaining a free directory of some kind, hopefully we'll see a rebirth of chess in the school programs in the state. I think we all can visualize that the larger this pool of scholastic clubs/players becomes, the greater the probability that the post-scholastic population of chess players will be (hint to incoming MECA board members). I live in Lisbon Falls and have several children in that grade range (home schooled) so perhaps we'll cross paths. When I played in South Portland in the 70s I remember a team from Somersworth NH coming to SP for a high school match. That was a fun day. Hopefully we'll start to see some growth in the middle, JR, and SR level that makes chess playing in schools accessible and enjoyable for a larger percentage of school-aged children.
Posted by: Phil St.Jean | November 2, 2009 9:10 PM
At this time, scholastic chess is not played at many schools in Maine so I would be opposed to class divisions. What I would like to see is more tournaments throught the year leading up to the championship as it is now structured. I would be willing to organize a tournament for grades 4-8 in Lisbon which is where I work. These type of tournaments might need to be regional due to the long distances between southern and northern Maine.
Posted by: Brian Hirst | October 29, 2009 10:11 AM
Sounds like it is worth a try. A new idea to bring chess to the whole state
Posted by: Denis Nadeau | October 18, 2009 8:35 PM
There is a group of chess players in the State of Maine. These chess players know each other and have formed a beginning venue for chess growth. They welcome all chess players and take under consideration their ideas.
Those that come here from large cities and other countries with ideas that work well with an income and a population five times that of the State of Maine should consider well the fact that there is very few chess clubs in the State. Of these clubs few have members that belong to the US Chess Federation.
Mark McPheters member of the Maine Chess Association and former Secretary.
Posted by: Mark McPheters | October 18, 2009 5:50 PM